The present invention relates to a fishing reel and, more particularly, to an improvement in an anti-reverse mechanism for preventing a rotary member such as a spool, rotor, etc. from being undesirably rotated by the pulling force acting in the direction in which the fishing line is unwound.
There have heretofore been known anti-reverse mechanisms for fishing reels such as those disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication Numbers 55-32463 (1980) and 59-32282 (1984).
This type of conventional anti-reverse mechanism is arranged such that a ratchet wheel is rigidly secured to a rotating shaft which is rotated by turning a handle, while a pawl member which is brought into and out of engagement with the ratchet wheel is pivotally mounted on a reel frame, and the pawl member is retained in engagement with the ratchet wheel by means of a spring, whereby the rotating shaft is prevented from rotating in the direction in which the line is unwound but allowed to rotate in the retrieving direction, that is, the direction in which the line is rewound in response to the rotation of the handle in the retrieving direction.
The above-described conventional anti-reverse mechanism for fishing reels suffers, however, from the following problems. Since it comprises parts which are additionally provided, i.e., a ratchet wheel, a pawl member, a screw required to pivotally mount the pawl member on the reel frame, and a spring member for retaining the pawl member in engagement with the ratchet wheel, the number of parts increases and it is not easy to assemble and disassemble these parts. In addition, since the conventional anti-reverse mechanism is constructed by setting discrete parts on the rotating shaft and the reel frame, there is a fear of failure in prevention of reverse rotation due to an error in machining or assembling these parts.
In the anti-reverse mechanism of the type described above, the number of teeth of the ratchet wheel is generally 6 to 8. Therefore, even in the case of a ratchet wheel having 8 teeth, the angle between each adjacent teeth is relatively large, i.e., 45.degree.. Accordingly, the angle required for the ratchet wheel and the pawl member which are brought into engagement with each other to come to prevent reverse rotation, that is, the slipping angle, is unfavorably large, so that the following problems have heretofore been experienced.
For example, when a fishing line is let out from a spinning reel, if the rod is vigorously swung down with the bail set free, the handle arm rotates by inertia through an angle corresponding to the slipping angle. At this time, if the bail arm bumps against the bail return member provided on the reel body, the bail is returned to the retrieve position and, at the same time, the line which is being let out is suddenly stopped by the bail which is prevented from rotating in reverse, so that there is a fear of the line being disconnected by the tension accidentally applied thereto.
When the fishing rod is vigorously pulled due to a trouble such as the hook being caught by an obstacle on the bottom of the water, large impact force acts on the ratchet wheel and the pawl member which are engaged with each other to prevent reverse rotation, which is likely to result in damage to the pawl member or other parts. In addition, the relatively large slipping angle involves the problem that the line is likely to slack.